tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/economic-abuse-21079/articlesEconomic abuse – The Conversation2019-03-14T06:26:24Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1122882019-03-14T06:26:24Z2019-03-14T06:26:24ZDowry abuse does exist, but let's focus on the wider issues of economic abuse and coercive control<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262350/original/file-20190306-48429-1ps43ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia&#39;s Senate inquiry was unable to report on the prevalence of dowry and dowry abuse in Australia. Data is sketchy and evidence anecdotal.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rina’s marriage problems began two days before her wedding, when her fiance’s parents demanded gold and a car. Her parents agreed to part of the demands to ensure the planned marriage went ahead. </p>
<p>But the 27-year-old Indian woman’s marriage to a man in Melbourne would last just eight months, as abusive behaviour by her husband and new in-laws escalated.</p>
<p>Dowries – where the bride’s parents are forced to give valuable gifts to the husband’s parents – have been officially banned for decades in India. But dowry traditions continue to live on throughout South Asia and in the Middle East. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/when-gold-prices-go-up-so-does-the-cost-of-a-dowry-and-baby-girl-survival-rates-in-india-fall-96061">When gold prices go up, so does the cost of a dowry – and baby girl survival rates in India fall</a>
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<p>As <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19438192.2019.1558757">Rina’s story shows</a>, it has also been imported into expatriate communities in Australia. </p>
<p>To what extent remains unknown. The <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/DowryAbuse/Report">Senate inquiry into Dowry and Dowry Abuse</a> was asked to report on the prevalence of dowry in Australia. But its final report, published last month, says there is insufficient data to do so, with the available evidence on dowry abuse “largely anecdotal”. </p>
<p>The inquiry decided not to recommend a specific law against dowry. It has instead recommended that “economic abuse” be included as a form of family violence in the Family Law Act, and that dowry abuse be included in a “non-exhaustive list” of examples of economic abuse.</p>
<p>This seems to me the right approach, based on the stories Rina and others told me as part of my research into financial and domestic abuse. Of 17 stories from Indian migrants, only Rina’s involved dowry abuse.</p>
<p>Rather than focusing on specific cultural practices, with the danger of demonising specific minority communities, we need to concentrate on economic abuse in whatever form it takes.</p>
<h2>Rina’s story</h2>
<p>I heard Rina’s story as part of the comparative research I did with Marg Liddell and Jasvinder Sidhu on money, gender and family violence. We listened to 17 Indian migrants, 13 Anglo-Celtic women and 17 community leaders, service providers and leaders of faith communities. We found our interviewees through professional, personal and community networks. </p>
<p>Their stories demonstrated that economic abuse was not limited by culture. Dowry abuse was just one example of many different forms of economic abuse. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/when-care-becomes-control-financial-abuse-cuts-across-cultures-70754">When care becomes control - financial abuse cuts across cultures</a>
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<p>What is economic abuse? It is any type of economic control or exploitation. It might involve preventing a partner from getting work, so as to control how much money they have. It might include determining what they can spend money on. It might involve insisting on access to bank accounts or controlling other assets.</p>
<p>In Rina’s case, most of her jewellery was kept in a bank locker under her father-in-law’s name in India (her in-laws nonetheless remained dissatisfied with the dowry they had received). With no job or money or bank account of her own, she was completely dependent on handouts from her husband. In her first six months in Australia, she said, he gave her just $100 in spending money. </p>
<p>He was jealous and controlling in other ways, too. Though her only social activity was attending the Sikh temple each week, this didn’t stop him accusing her of having a relationship with every man she spoke with, she told me. </p>
<p>He demanded to know if she had given the man her mobile phone number, and would “snatch my phone, saying that he pays the bill so I have no right to talk to anybody”.</p>
<p>Three months into the marriage his jealousy escalated into physical abuse. Rina’s father sent her a ticket, and she returned to India. After two months she came back to Melbourne to give him another chance. But almost immediately, her husband’s behaviour left her fearing for her life. “I felt if I stayed there another night,” she said, “I would be found dead the next day.” </p>
<h2>Broader economic abuse</h2>
<p>Rina, clearly, was subjected to abuse that went way beyond dowry abuse. </p>
<p>We heard other stories of economic abuse involving no dowry. </p>
<p><a href="https://rdcu.be/boMMb">In Asha’s case</a>, her husband wanted to control the money she earned, dictating how she spent it and preventing her from sending any to help her family in India. </p>
<p>She had originally come to Australia to study. Her husband was a fellow Indian student. Before and after they got married, she was the principal income earner.</p>
<p>Once they were married, she said, he wanted to control all the money. “You should be giving all your money to me,” she says he told her. “You are now a member of my family.” While he failed to pay an equal share of their bills, she recalls him criticising her for overspending on a $2 bag of papadums. </p>
<p>About six months into their marriage, he kicked her in the stomach. “I could take the emotional abuse,” she said. “I could take the verbal abuse, but I could not comprehend a man beating me.”</p>
<p>Such controlling behaviour is by no means a feature of one culture. </p>
<p>One of our Anglo-Celtic stories involved Carol. A teacher in her late 60s, she put her savings of $60,000 and her salary into a joint account with her second husband. Though she was the main and only reliable earner, he questioned every item of expenditure, every gift she wanted to give. </p>
<p>“He took it all,” Carol said. As their relationship deteriorated she increasingly feared physical violence. She recalled one occasion where she hid in a walk-in wardrobe for three hours: “I’d nearly gone crazy.”</p>
<p>Such stories show it would make little sense for social policy or law makers to focus on one narrow, culturally specific manifestation of economic abuse.</p>
<h2>Coercive control</h2>
<p><a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077801209347452">Coercive control</a> underlies economic abuse as with other dimensions of family violence.</p>
<p>It works through “malevolent” conduct over time to instil fear and isolate the women. Its tactics lead to women feeling they are poor mothers, wives, home makers and sexual partners. It has a devastating effect on women from all backgrounds and walks of life across Australia. </p>
<p>Changing the Family Law Act to recognise economic abuse as a form of domestic violence (and dowry abuse as a form of economic abuse) is a good start.</p>
<p>But we would do well to go further, and have a conversation about criminalising the coercive and controlling behaviour behind economic abuse. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/australia-should-be-cautious-about-introducing-laws-on-coercive-control-to-stem-domestic-violence-87579">Australia should be cautious about introducing laws on coercive control to stem domestic violence</a>
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<p>This has been done in England and Wales (2015), Scotland (2018) and Ireland (2018). These new laws have drawn attention to the need to think of family violence as more than separate incidents of physical assault. </p>
<p>The emphasis on coercive control requires a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12227">different type of policing</a>. It looks at a pattern of behaviour that is corrosive, involving emotional, economic, sexual and physical abuse. It’s this pattern of controlling and coercive behaviour that is criminalised.</p>
<p>Nothing ever happened to the abusers of Rina, Asha and Carol. Criminalising coercive control would have ensured they were properly held to account.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112288/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Supriya Singh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rather than focusing on specific cultural practices, we need to concentrate on all forms of economic abuse as coercive control.Supriya Singh, Professor, Sociology of Communications, Graduate School of Business & Law, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1104392019-01-31T19:12:13Z2019-01-31T19:12:13ZBanks are enabling economic abuse. Here's how they could be stopping it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256556/original/file-20190131-108338-4cttim.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Financial institutions often have all the information they need to identify suspected cases of economic abuse.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry delivers its final report today.</p>
<p>During its hearings there was an important problem that it has missed.</p>
<p>Banks and financial service providers are failing to adequately recognise the warning signs of economic abuse and family violence experienced by customers.</p>
<p>Family violence is a problem for the banks and their customers. It is a risk to them if it means loans can’t be repaid. It is a risk to their customers if they are made homeless and lose income and mental health in the financial fallout of abuse.</p>
<p>And it’s a problem for our community if banks and other institutions ignore or enable family violence. </p>
<h2>Banks can spot warning signs</h2>
<p>Customers, especially women, who seek loans from banks or who present to banks with high levels of financial stress <a href="https://theconversation.com/revealed-the-hidden-problem-of-economic-abuse-in-australia-73764">might well be victims of economic abuse</a>. </p>
<p>One <a href="https://theconversation.com/revealed-the-hidden-problem-of-economic-abuse-in-australia-73764">recent Australian study</a> found that nearly 16% of women had a history of economic abuse and 7% of men. </p>
<p>Economic abuse is a <a href="https://www.westjustice.org.au/cms_uploads/docs/westjustice-restoring-financial-safety-report.pdf">subtle form of violence</a> that we often struggle to recognise. </p>
<p>Most of us know that <a href="https://ncas.anrows.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/NCAS-report-2018.pdf">slapping or pushing is violence</a>. But even victims can fail to see that it is also violence when their partner tries to <a href="https://ncas.anrows.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/NCAS-report-2018.pdf">deny them money</a>. </p>
<p>Here are some of the ways <a href="http://www.rcfv.com.au/MediaLibraries/RCFamilyViolence/Reports/Final/RCFV-Vol-IV.pdf">in which it happens</a>:</p>
<p>• A victim of family violence can be forced to seek a loan that only benefits the perpetrator or to guarantee a loan made to the perpetrator</p>
<p>• A loan can be made to the victim and perpetrator jointly, but only the victim might make repayments </p>
<p>• After the violent relationship ends, the perpetrator might not contribute to repayments, and the bank might move to sell mortgaged property</p>
<p>• A victim might have difficulty obtaining information about a loan held in the perpetrator’s name which is secured by a mortgage over a family asset</p>
<h2>They are not yet doing enough</h2>
<p>In recent years there have been changes to <a href="https://www.ausbanking.org.au/images/uploads/ArticleDocuments/207/Industry_Guideline_Protecting_vulnerable_customers_from_potential_financial_abuse2.pdf">banking industry guidelines</a> to encourage banks to prevent the financial abuse of victims of family violence. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ausbanking.org.au/images/uploads/ArticleDocuments/207/ABA_Industry_Guideline_-_Financial_Abuse_and_Family_and_Domestic_Violence%20Nov%202016.pdf">Australian Bankers’ Association</a> is pushing for widespread staff training. Much has been done, but a lot more needs to be done.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fos.org.au/fos-circular-31-home/fos-news/update-from-the-family-violence-working-group/">A 2017 survey</a> of 98 banks, building societies, credit unions and credit providers found an alarming lack of awareness of family violence amongst front line staff who rarely identify customers experiencing violence or are even aware of support services. </p>
<p>Most responding institutions said they did not have family violence training for staff or plans to introduce it.</p>
<p>One legal service provider recently assisted ‘Mi-Kim’.</p>
<p><em>Several months after Mi-Kim’s husband left her, a lender contacted her to advise that the loan to the home she lived in with her pre-school-aged children was in arrears. The loan was in her husband’s name but the lender could not contact him. Mi-Kim , whose English was poor, started paying money into husband’s account to make mortgage repayments. He was still able to access his account and made withdrawals. The lender moved to sell the property.</em></p>
<p>These victims are doubly disadvantaged by their exposure to violence as well as poor practices on the part of their credit providers.</p>
<p>We know that asking about the presence of family violence helps <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/fm98-hcab.pdf">encourage victims to disclose it</a>. Where loans are being made to couples, financial service providers should specifically ask each member of the couple about family violence and whether any intervention/apprehended violence orders have been made. </p>
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À lire aussi :
<a href="http://theconversation.com/the-banking-sector-can-do-its-bit-to-combat-family-violence-57215">The banking sector can do its bit to combat family violence</a>
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<p>Where violence is identified or suspected, a set of <a href="https://www.fos.org.au/fos-circular-31-home/fos-news/update-from-the-family-violence-working-group/">automatic protocols</a> should whirr into place.</p>
<p>For joint loans and guarantees in the name of family members who do not benefit, banks and other creditors should have a legal obligation to warn the person taking on the obligation of the importance of obtaining independent advice. The <a href="https://www.ausbanking.org.au/images/uploads/Banking_Code_of_Practice_2019_web.pdf">code of practice</a> should mandate information provision about family violence.</p>
<p>We have a rare opportunity to secure a common approach to family violence as part of the response to the banking royal commission. Our financial institutions should embrace it.</p>
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<p><em>We are grateful to Women’s Legal Service Victoria and South East Community Links for providing the case studies referred to in this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110439/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Becky Batagol worked for Victoria&#39;s Royal Commission into Family Violence and is a member of a committee overseeing implementation of one of its recommendations.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcia Neave owns shares in a bank. She chaired Victoria&#39;s Royal Commission into Family Violence and chairs or is a member of a number of committees involved in overseeing implementation of the recommendations of commission. She is also on the Board of a number of NGOs involved in social justice issues.</span></em></p>The royal commission didn't examine economic abuse. If it had it would have found there's much banks can do.Becky Batagol, Associate Professor of Law, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash UniversityMarcia Neave, Distinguished Professional Visitor, Faculty of Law, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/875842017-11-19T19:07:46Z2017-11-19T19:07:46ZThree charts on: how emotional and economic abuse go hand-in-hand<p>People who have been in an abusive relationship often don’t realise it until they’ve left it, so looking at the data on past relationships is the best way of getting a picture of how bad it can be. We find that emotional and economic abuse in relationships <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.12651/full">are often intertwined</a>. People who insult and shame their partners will often also try to control their income and assets.</p>
<p>The Australian Bureau of Statistics <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4906.0.55.003main+features242016">Personal Safety Survey</a> found in 2016, 23% of women, and 15.9% of men <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4906.0%7E2016%7EMain%20Features%7EExperience%20of%20Partner%20Emotional%20Abuse%7E26">experienced emotional abuse</a> by a current or previous partner. In <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4906.0Chapter8002012">the 2012 survey</a>, this was 24.5% of women and 14.4% of men. </p>
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<p>It is not entirely clear as to why slightly more men are reporting emotional abuse in the 2016 survey. There has certainly been more awareness raising around the issue of emotional abuse and a recognition that it can affect both genders: this is reflected <a href="https://www.1800respect.org.au/violence-and-abuse/psychological-abuse/">in national websites</a> that offer gender-inclusive support and information. </p>
<p>The survey shows some of the most visible forms of emotional abuse with 63% of women and 46% of men reported experiencing intimidating shouting, yelling and verbal abuse. </p>
<p>We see too that economic abuse is very common among those who report emotional abuse — 38% of women and 22% of men also reported that their partner tried to control their access to, knowledge about or making decisions about household money.</p>
<p>But of women who experienced emotional abuse, financial control is in the top five most frequently occurring forms. Financial control includes controlling access to household money, such as not having access to bank accounts and being given an “allowance”; controlling decision-making and information about financial decisions.</p>
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<p>For men, financial control ranks ninth, superseded by other forms of emotional abuse such as lies to family, friends and children with the intent of turning them against them. The profile of most frequent forms of emotional abuse appear to be different for men and women.</p>
<p>These tactics, along with other emotional abuse tactics, aim to control and maintain power over the other. Emotional abuse depletes someone’s psychological resolve and resilience, while financial abuse depletes their financial independence and confidence. All types aim to increase dependence. </p>
<p>While the 2012 Personal Safety Survey data examines abuse with current or previous partners, the 2016 data is only for previous partners. At the population level in 2016, the most common indicators of economic abuse in previous relationships was controlling access to household money. In 2012, damaging property was the most common form in current or previous relationships. </p>
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<p>Economic abuse is a serious and devastating component of intimate partner violence. It’s a significant component of emotional abuse. It can also continue well after the relationship has ended. </p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.12651/full">Our previous research</a> has also established that economic abuse goes hand in hand with emotional abuse. There is community awareness and acceptance that all forms of partner physical and sexual violence are unacceptable. However, emotional and economic abuse are lesser known forms of partner violence, with many shades of grey. </p>
<p>While the Personal Safety Survey is our only source of population based data, its current structure underestimates the prevalence of abuse because economic abuse is not asked about separately from the emotional abuse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87584/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Emotional and economic abuse in relationships are often intertwined as people who insult and shame their partners will also try to control their income and assets.Jozica Kutin, PhD Candidate - Economic Abuse and Young Adults, RMIT UniversityMike Reid, Professor, School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT UniversityRoslyn Russell, Professor, School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/752502017-05-02T14:39:42Z2017-05-02T14:39:42ZHow Pakistani and Indian women confront marital economic abuse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165701/original/image-20170418-32713-cyh1bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">via shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137570468">disputes over finances</a> are known to be common in South Asian families, relatively little is known about the prevalence and severity of economic abuse of women from these backgrounds. </p>
<p>In a <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2017-15493-001/">new study</a>, I spoke with 84 mothers with dependent children from Pakistani Muslim and Gujarati Hindu backgrounds in Britain, India and Pakistan about their household finances and economic well-being. The women had a range of occupational backgrounds and the majority of them were living with their husbands or with <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2011.02047.x">extended family</a>. Out of the 84 women, 33 reported one or more forms of economic abuse.</p>
<p>I found that many women are suffering from economic abuse in silence, although they do not accept it as a natural or cultural phenomenon. Some are fighting back in their own way, but their battles are limited by the socio-economic and legal resources available to them. </p>
<h2>Tight control</h2>
<p>Economic abuse, which is recognised as a type of <a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/violenceagainstwomenstudydoc.pdf">domestic violence by the UN</a> and also by the <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100418065544/http:/www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/2003-cons-domestic-violence-cons/domesticviolence2835.pdf?view=Binary">UK</a>, <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20130301005246/http://wcd.nic.in/wdvact.pdf">India</a>, and some provinces in <a href="http://www.af.org.pk/Acts_Fed_Provincial/Sindh_Acts_since_2002/Sindh%20%202013/The%20Domestic%20Violence%20%28Prevention%20and%20Protection%29%20Act,%202013.pdf">Pakistan (for example Sindh)</a>, can come in <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/172219916?selectedversion=NBD51044205">a number of forms</a>. For example, husbands can prevent their wives from acquiring or using financial resources, refuse to contribute to household expenses or exploit their wives’ earning and belongings. </p>
<p>The actual <a href="http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/media/london-metropolitan-university/london-met-documents/faculties/faculty-of-social-sciences-and-humanities/research/child-and-woman-abuse-studies-unit/Review-of-Research-and-Policy-on-Financial-Abuse.pdf">prevalence of economic abuse</a> in England and Wales is not known but research suggests that around 50% or more of all women in abusive relationships experience financial abuse. </p>
<p>The women I spoke to reported suffering <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2017-15493-001/">several forms of economic abuse</a>. Ruchi*, a first-generation British Gujarati homemaker explained to me how she was unable to earn money due to the restrictions placed on her by her husband. </p>
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<p>He said ‘you can only work if the timings are like 11 to three’. So finish all the work at home first before going to office, then be home for children when they come back! </p>
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<p>Other women also told me it was impossible to be economically independent – especially those living in Britain who faced discrimination from employers because of their ethnicity and migration status. </p>
<p>I heard from women whose <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/D/bo20848810.html">customary marriage gifts</a> had been exploited by their husbands and in-laws. This included a dowry or gold, given to them by their parents and in-laws at the time of their wedding and considered for their exclusive use. Iffat, a homemaker in Pakistan, said she was asked to sell all her gold to pay for documents for her husband’s employment. She told me her husband promised to return all her gold but did not, and instead spent it on another woman who he was having an affair with.</p>
<p>Falak, who lives in the UK, remembered how she paid for everything while her husband was sending his earnings to Pakistan to his parents and building properties which were in his name. She told me: </p>
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<p>I was working, he was working, but it’s sort of his money was for him and his family back home and I provided for myself and for the children. </p>
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<p>Household finance remains a taboo, therefore much of the economic abuse remains hidden. One of the women I interviewed in the UK, Hoora, was earning a large amount of money from her consultancy work which her husband used to pay for bills as well as buy a property in his name. She did not feel she could discuss her financial concerns with anyone: </p>
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<p>It was a subject where I, my parents didn’t really talk to me, I never had a discussion to say who pays what until a particular auntie who was friends of his family [asked me] … And even then I couldn’t tell her my discomfort that I had to pay them all. </p>
</blockquote>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165704/original/image-20170418-32696-imsf38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165704/original/image-20170418-32696-imsf38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165704/original/image-20170418-32696-imsf38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165704/original/image-20170418-32696-imsf38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165704/original/image-20170418-32696-imsf38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165704/original/image-20170418-32696-imsf38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165704/original/image-20170418-32696-imsf38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women often suffer from economic abuse in silence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">via shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Fighting back</h2>
<p>Many of the women I spoke to had adopted various overt and covert strategies to fight economic abuse. Shahida, a second-generation British Pakistani professional, had been responsible for all household expenses for the first seven years of her marriage. One day, she demanded an end to it: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I said, 'I am not paying everything for house. I feel for the children and for the shopping you should be paying half’. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>After a lot of struggle, her husband eventually agreed to pay half of the food shopping costs, allowing Shahida to buy healthier food for her family. </p>
<p>Mehak, a first-generation British Pakistani homemaker who has lived with her in-laws since her marriage, used a more indirect strategy. She did not have access to a bank account, so the child benefit for her four children was accessed by her husband. She managed to convince her husband that they should move out of his family’s house because the children need more space. She recalled: “I didn’t use to have much control before and that used to frustrate me that I can’t do anything special for my kids.” As soon as they moved out, she told me he gave her access to the child benefit.</p>
<p>Wherever the women I interviewed were based – in Britain, India or Pakistan – they faced substantial barriers, such as a lack of resources, access to legal guidance and family pressure, which prevented them from seeking support to fight against domestic violence, including economic abuse.</p>
<p>Women from Pakistani and Indian communities need to be supported in their fight against economic abuse not only through provision of a range of legal and financial services but also through addressing wider gender, socio-economic and ethnic inequalities that make women vulnerable to economic abuse in the first place. </p>
<p>* <em>All names in this piece have been changed to protect the anonymity of the women interviewed.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75250/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Punita Chowbey receives funding from NIHR CLAHRC Yorkshire and Humber and Joseph Rowntree Foundation. </span></em></p>A new study has interviewed South Asian women who have suffered from economic abuse.Punita Chowbey, Research Fellow, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/737642017-03-01T19:13:47Z2017-03-01T19:13:47ZRevealed: the hidden problem of economic abuse in Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158858/original/image-20170301-19783-q7f4lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New research has found that 15.7% of women and 7.1% of men have experienced economic abuse in their lifetimes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Only recently have government and family violence services had access to data specifically on economic abuse. We analysed ABS data that identifies, for the first time, the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.12651/full">extent of economic abuse</a> in Australia. We established that disability, health status and financial stress were significantly associated with economic abuse, especially for women.</p>
<p>Our research revealed that 15.7% of women and 7.1% of men had experienced economic abuse in their lifetimes. We also found that 63% of women who were experiencing high financial stress and 24% of women with a disability or long-term health condition had a history of economic abuse, compared to the population average of 15.7%.</p>
<h2>What is economic abuse?</h2>
<p>Economic abuse is a hidden form of intimate partner abuse. Victims are often unaware it is happening – until they are in the process of separation and divorce, or are experiencing severe financial stress. <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077801208315529">Economic abuse</a> occurs between intimate partners when one controls or manipulates the other person’s access to finances, assets and decision-making to create dependence and control. </p>
<p>It is a powerful abuse tactic, which leaves victims financially incapacitated — a major reason why people don’t leave abusive or violent relationships. Economic abuse is recognised as a form of <a href="http://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/5.%20A%20Common%20Interpretative%20Framework%20%E2%80%94%20Definitions%20in%20Family%20Violence%20Legislation/curre">family violence in law</a> in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.</p>
<h2>Where are the data hiding?</h2>
<p>The Australian Bureau of Statistics interviewed 17,050 women and men in Australia in 2012 about their experiences of violence in the community and in their homes. For the first time, data included items that measured economic abuse, but these were hidden in the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0main+features602014">emotional abuse statistics</a>. The ABS defined economic abuse when a partner:</p>
<ol>
<li> stopped or tried to stop you knowing about or having access to household money</li>
<li> stopped or tried to stop you from working, earning money, or studying</li>
<li> deprived you of basic necessities (such as food, shelter, sleep, assistive aids)</li>
<li> Damaged, destroyed or stole any of your property.</li>
</ol>
<p>We included an additional important item:</p>
<ul>
<li>stopped or tried to stop you from using the telephone, internet or family car.</li>
</ul>
<p>Prevalence rates fluctuate depending how it is measured. For example, a <a href="http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/assets/pdf/bank/aboutus/ethicalpolicy/financialabuse/moneymattersreport.pdf">recent report in the UK</a> found that 35% of British adults had experienced economic abuse. The researchers used 31 items (such as “I have to ask my partner’s permission before I
make a purchase” or “My partner has fraudulently put debts in my
name”). </p>
<p>Compare that to <a href="http://search.proquest.com/docview/1764389173?accountid=13552">data from Canada</a>, which showed 3% of women and 2% of men reported experiencing economic abuse. In that survey, three items were used (your partner or ex-partner damaged or destroyed your possessions or property; prevented you from knowing about or having access to the family income even if you asked; forced you to give him or her your money, possessions or property).</p>
<p>Despite these measurement advancements, the ABS data do not include items on debt generation or being coerced to sign contracts or be guarantor. These are <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/fvpa2008283/s6.html">common tactics</a> of economic abuse. The research also fails to include cohabitating relationships, which excludes young adults not yet living together and “<a href="https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/fm87f.pdf">live apart together</a>” relationships. These two facts alone likely result in an underestimate of the prevalence of economic abuse. </p>
<p>But the ABS did ask respondents if these tactics were used to “prevent or control your behaviour with the intent to cause you emotional harm or fear”. This caveat is important as economic abuse, like other forms of intimate partner violence, is a pattern of behaviour, which often starts with seemingly innocuous or caring behaviours, for example: “Don’t worry, I’ll look after all the banking.” Victims often don’t recognise financial control in their relationship as abuse. </p>
<p>We found that of the 15.7% of women and 7.1% of men who experienced economic abuse in their lifetimes, the risk peaked between the ages of 40 and 49. In this age group, 20.9% of women and 10.3% of men reported economic abuse. We see that prevalence is halved among 18-to-29-year-olds, but this is likely to be an underestimate.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158855/original/image-20170301-19792-1q9liah.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158855/original/image-20170301-19792-1q9liah.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=248&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158855/original/image-20170301-19792-1q9liah.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=248&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158855/original/image-20170301-19792-1q9liah.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=248&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158855/original/image-20170301-19792-1q9liah.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=312&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158855/original/image-20170301-19792-1q9liah.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=312&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158855/original/image-20170301-19792-1q9liah.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=312&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Economic abuse peaks for both men and women between the ages of 40 and 49.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We were also interested in which factors were significantly associated with economic abuse for men and for women. We included marital status, education level, employment status, personal income, health status and disability status. We also included experiences of emotional abuse or physical violence in a relationship. We had access to <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/6523.0%7E2013-14%7EMain%20Features%7EFinancial%20Stress%20Indicators%7E33">markers of financial stress</a> (for example, being unable to pay bills) and financial resilience (whether they could raise A$2,000 in an emergency).</p>
<h2>Financial stress and disability status associated with economic abuse</h2>
<p>We found that 63% of women who were experiencing high financial stress and 24% of women who had a disability or long-term health condition had a history of economic abuse, compared to the population average of 15.7%. This was even after we controlled for other factors, including divorce/separation status and history of other forms of relationship abuse. Economic abuse, for men, was only associated with a history of intimate partner emotional or physical violence. </p>
<h2>Unmasking the hidden problem: role of banks, welfare and health services</h2>
<p>This study points to the need for banks, credit providers, utilities, housing and welfare services to be acutely aware that when customers present with financial problems, there is a significant chance of underlying economic abuse. </p>
<p>Our previous research has highlighted the ways in which the <a href="http://www.anz.com/resources/7/5/7550e2df-222b-445a-b4e5-986825378259/mm-impact-report-2016.pdf?MOD=AJPERES">banking sector and financial literacy programs</a> can minimise the impact of economic abuse and family violence. Particular attention should be given to people with <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12498">disabilities</a> or long-term health conditions. They are more vulnerable to intimate partner violence and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.12651/full">economic abuse</a>.</p>
<h2>Subtle abuse subtle interventions</h2>
<p>Interviews with practitioners confirmed that women are not aware that debt generated in their name (for example) is a form of intimate partner violence. Young people in particular were unaware of the risk.</p>
<p>There are significant challenges for prevention strategies. Victims are unlikely to see themselves as victims, and are unlikely to identify with domestic violence services or websites unless other forms of abuse are occurring. </p>
<p>Our research is now specifically investigating the experiences of economic abuse in young adults (18 to 29 years old). Experts have identified that they are particularly vulnerable, but they may hold the key to insights for the development of intervention and prevention strategies. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Are you aged 18 to 29 years and would like to tell your story of economic abuse? To find out more about this research project please contact jozica.kutin@rmit.edu.au</em></p>
<p><em>For support and information about economic abuse and other forms of family violence contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73764/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jozica Kutin is a recipient of an Australian Postgraduate Award</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Reid and Roslyn Russell do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Women living in high financial stress and those who have a disability or chronic health condition are most at risk of economic abuse.Jozica Kutin, PhD Candidate - Economic Abuse and Young Adults, RMIT UniversityMike Reid, Professor, School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT UniversityRoslyn Russell, Professor, School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/693372016-11-28T19:16:20Z2016-11-28T19:16:20ZDomestic violence also has an economic penalty – we need to tackle it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147532/original/image-20161125-15344-15c0zro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia’s social safety net is not doing nearly enough to counter the economic harms of violence.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While Australia has a <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/10/28/turnbull-calls-australias-domestic-violence-disgrace">national conversation</a> on domestic violence, some of the harms of this violence remain in the shadows. The ways violence degrades women’s financial status and access to economic resources are particularly poorly recognised.</p>
<p><a href="http://anrows.org.au/publications/horizons/domestic-violence-and-womens-economic-security-building-australia%E2%80%99s-capacity">Our research</a> provides evidence for what many domestic violence practitioners have observed for decades: violence and financial abuse contribute to extreme levels of financial hardship and risks of poverty. </p>
<p>These economic effects resonate throughout women’s lives and across generations. Governments, businesses, non-government organisations and others can do much more to prevent and tackle them.</p>
<h2>Domestic violence is an economic harm</h2>
<p>Using data from the <a href="http://melbourneinstitute.com/journeys_home/index.html">Journeys Home survey</a>, we examined low-income women’s experiences of violence, housing, work and financial wellbeing between 2012 and 2014. </p>
<p>Violence affects women across socioeconomic circumstances. But these women’s histories of social security receipt and housing stress made it especially difficult to rebound from the financial loss associated with partner violence. Australia’s social safety net is not doing nearly enough to mitigate the economic harms of violence.</p>
<p>Among the 765 women in the study, those subject to partner violence fared much worse on financial hardship measures than others. For example, the women exposed to violence were:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>more likely to go without food due to lack of money;</p></li>
<li><p>more likely to have difficulty paying utilities bills; and</p></li>
<li><p>more likely to require material assistance from welfare agencies, which were often poorly equipped to respond.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The financial impacts of violence were much worse for women subject to prolonged or repeated violence. This underlines the <a href="http://anrows.org.au/publications/horizons/domestic-violence-and-womens-economic-security-building-australia%E2%80%99s-capacity">importance of early response</a>. </p>
<p>By 2014, the women who had reported partner violence more than once in the survey period were under extreme financial strain. They were also less likely to be in paid employment. This made it difficult to carve pathways out of violent relationships.</p>
<h2>Prospects to improve Australia’s responses</h2>
<p>Awareness of <a href="https://theconversation.com/tackling-economic-abuse-of-women-must-be-part-of-our-domestic-violence-response-48376">economic abuse</a> is increasing. </p>
<p>Economic and financial abuse now feature alongside physical and emotional abuse in the family violence legislation of four Australian jurisdictions. Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence <a href="http://www.rcfv.com.au/">provided apt recommendations</a> to inform change in that state and beyond.</p>
<p>The 32 key informants we interviewed noted persistent gaps in provision, but gave several examples of promising initiatives. They described good practice in the ways some crisis services respond to clients’ financial needs, helping women build financial capacity while tackling their physical, emotional and housing needs. </p>
<p>Some services had close partnerships with financial counsellors or local Centrelink officers to help with access to payments or emergency relief. However, levels of support available usually fell short.</p>
<p>Interviewees described growing momentum in banks and private companies to prevent debt and poor credit ratings arising from economic abuse. Some described initiatives seeking to set foundations for women to build long-term financial capacity, through affordable housing, tailored job-search supports and microfinance. </p>
<p>And, in the world of work, some employers are helping protect working women from the <a href="http://asr.sagepub.com/content/80/1/140.short">loss of earnings</a> incurred when seeking a restraining order or taking other safety measures, including through paid domestic violence leave and other employer supports.</p>
<h2>Taking good practice to scale</h2>
<p>While a promising range of initiatives exist, these tend to be localised, disjointed and under-resourced. There is no mechanism to identify good practice, nor take it to scale. </p>
<p>Many programs rest on small, one-off grants, with few prospects for securing ongoing funds or for expanding supports – even for high-quality services. </p>
<p>Fragmented provision means women in similar circumstances have access to vastly different supports. Many survivors find what they need through “lucky referrals” to innovative services, rather than an equitable, co-ordinated safety net.</p>
<p>Our key interviewees described an urgent need to build awareness and change within and across multiple service systems. This is by no means an easy task. Initiatives need to be co-ordinated and cross-sectoral, including specialist domestic violence crisis responses, housing, Centrelink, child support, access to legal representation and the Family Court.</p>
<p>Further change is also needed in <a href="https://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/media/SPRCFile/Issues_paper_1__Supporting_women_to_find_and_keep_jobs_following_domestic_violence.pdf">paid work</a>, among employers and employment service providers, so that women can get and keep jobs that provide them with independence and resources to avoid and leave bad relationships. Improvements are needed in the banking sector, among phone and utility providers, and other sources of household debt. </p>
<p>Good practice should be documented, shared and resourced, so the many effective small-scale initiatives can operate at the scale needed to achieve real change.</p>
<p>Without this, women will continue to unfairly pay the costs of violence.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The National Sexual Assault, Family &amp; Domestic Violence Counselling Line – 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69337/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Bullen received funding for this research from Australia&#39;s National Research Organisation for Women&#39;s Safety. She is also affiliated with the Women&#39;s Electoral Lobby. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha Cortis received funding for this research from Australia&#39;s National Research Organisation for Women&#39;s Safety. </span></em></p>Australia is now having a national conversation on domestic violence. Yet the way violence degrades women's financial status remains in the shadows. Much more needs to be done.Jane Bullen, Research Associate, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSWNatasha Cortis, Research Fellow, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSWLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/483762015-10-12T20:10:55Z2015-10-12T20:10:55ZTackling economic abuse of women must be part of our domestic violence response<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96960/original/image-20151001-23101-mpf9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women are more likely than men to be victims of economic abuse.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia is making long-overdue <a href="http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/release-womens-safety-package-to-stoptheviolence">moves</a> aimed at stopping domestic violence. These responses focus almost exclusively on physical injury and death. </p>
<p>Consequently, we are not recognising the existence and impact of less obvious forms of abuse that damage women’s well-being. One particularly widespread and insidious example is economic abuse.</p>
<h2>What it is</h2>
<p>Economic abuse includes behaviours that limit a person’s ability to acquire and use economic resources. Women are <a href="http://www.wire.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/WIRE-Research-Report_Relationship-Problems-and-Money-Women-talk-about-financial-abuse-August2014.pdf">more likely</a> than men to be victims of this form of abuse.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.goodshepvic.org.au/Assets/Files/Spotlight_on_Economic_Abuse_LitPolicyReview.pdf">Research</a> has identified a typology of four behaviours: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>controlling a partner’s acquisition of economic resources (including interfering with education and employment);</p></li>
<li><p>preventing a partner’s use of resources; </p></li>
<li><p>deliberately generating debt or exploiting a partner’s resources; and </p></li>
<li><p>refusing to contribute to expenses. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>These are not the equivalent of disagreements over money. They are controlling and humiliating behaviours, which abusers use to undercut women’s economic security and independence.</p>
<p>The majority of women seeking support for domestic violence <a href="http://www.wire.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/WIRE-Research-Report_Relationship-Problems-and-Money-Women-talk-about-financial-abuse-August2014.pdf">describe</a> experiencing economic abuse. Typically, it is linked to psychological, emotional and often physical abuse, although women may experience economic abuse even when they are not physically hurt by their partner. </p>
<p>Australians are <a href="https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/media-and-resources/publications/2013-national-community-attitudes-towards-violence-against-women-survey">less likely</a> to recognise economic abuse as abuse compared to physical forms of violence.</p>
<h2>How it affects victims</h2>
<p>Economic abuse has wide-reaching effects. </p>
<p>It leads to women’s and children’s material deprivation and social exclusion while living with an abuser. It is difficult for a woman to leave a physically violent partner when she is financially dependent on him. When an abuser limits access to economic resources, his partner will struggle to secure stable housing and meet day-to-day costs when she does leave. </p>
<p>Interfering with education or employment can make it difficult for women to find a job. Those women who have experienced economic abuse are less likely to do well in financial settlements on separation. Women may be jointly responsible for debts accrued by their abusive ex-partner. </p>
<p>Economic abuse magnifies the <a href="https://theconversation.com/eviction-from-the-middle-class-how-tenuous-jobs-penalise-women-23004">financial precariousness</a> women face through lower pay, fragmented paid work and insufficient superannuation. </p>
<p>In short, economic abuse can contribute to a lifetime of economic struggle for women.</p>
<p>Economic abuse does not necessarily end when a relationship does. After separation, abusers can use institutional processes to continue their controlling behaviours. Men can <a href="http://csmc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Financial_Abuse.pdf">use</a> family law and child support processes as a way of directly or indirectly controlling their former partner and undermining her financial security and self-reliance. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://www.academia.edu/13298344/Single_mothers_experiences_with_the_DHS-CS_full_report">recent research</a> has also highlighted the ways in which men under-report income, withhold child support or request multiple changes of assessment as part of a broader campaign of control over their former partners.</p>
<h2>How to respond</h2>
<p>The first step is to take economic abuse seriously. This necessitates a shift in how we understand domestic violence more broadly. </p>
<p>Public and policy responses to violence against women are most commonly informed by what American activist and academic Evan Stark has <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Coercive_Control_How_Men_Entrap_Women_in.html?id=rm8CPqTiDWMC">described</a> as the domestic violence paradigm. This equates abuse with discrete incidents of violence. Australia’s dominant paradigm does not recognise the power dynamics at the core of ongoing abuse.</p>
<p>In contrast, coercive control identifies power, not physical violence, as the crux of domestic violence. It provides a more accurate insight into the diverse strategies abusers adopt to render their partners fearful, vulnerable, isolated and dependent. Economic abuse is one such strategy of domination, limiting the victims’ agency and autonomy.</p>
<p>Within this understanding, it is not surprising that existing legislative responses to economic abuse have not been particularly successful.</p>
<p>For example, Victoria’s <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/fvpa2008283/">Family Violence Protection Act</a> includes economic abuse within the definition of family violence. The Act defines economic abuse as coercive, deceptive or unreasonably controlling behaviour that denies economic or financial autonomy or necessary financial support. Family violence intervention orders can be sought and include conditions that address economic abuse.</p>
<p>The possibilities of such legislation have not been matched in their implementation. Women’s Legal Service Victoria <a href="http://www.womenslegal.org.au/stepping-stones.html">highlights</a> a range of legal and administrative barriers to effective responses to economic abuse. </p>
<p>Within the family violence legal system, there is a lack of police and magistrate understanding of the dynamics and presentation of economic abuse. This is buttressed by intervention order conditions that are typically designed to address property issues rather than the dynamics of control. </p>
<p>More broadly, addressing economic abuse – particularly post-separation – requires changed policies and practices in the child support and family law systems, and in telecommunications, banking and energy services. Abusers appropriate all as tools for limiting women’s economic resources and independence.</p>
<p>The potential and complexity of a complete approach to domestic violence is striking in the instance of economic abuse. But momentum for reform should not stop at the most dramatic expressions of abuse. To do so would be to fall far short of a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbulls-scathing-attack-on-men-who-commit-domestic-violence-20150923-gjtpqt.html">“cultural shift”</a> and the achievement of the gender equality necessary to end domestic violence.</p>
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<p><em>The National Sexual Assault, Family &amp; Domestic Violence Counselling Line – 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48376/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristin Natalier has previously received funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. She is currently a member and Treasurer of The Australian Sociological Association.</span></em></p>Momentum for reform to end domestic violence should not stop at the most dramatic expressions of abuse. Economic abuse can also contribute to a lifetime of struggle for women.Kristin Natalier, Associate Professor in Sociology, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.